In the Absence of Cherry Blossoms
by regina di cuori
Summary: shoujo mangafied au care bears fanfic in which all the residents of care-a-lot are thrown into a change of scenery. here at carawood high, home of the carawood bears, we'll explore the lives of the personified care bears through the eyes of sweet sakura bear, our japanese exchange student as she struggles and develops through the problems of a high school girl.
1. New

ksldjfksdajfk. please don't mind me, i just had this idea in my head for some time now and i wanted to get it out. i guess it came to me when i, for some reason, looked up care bear fanfics and realized their existence. so when i saw that, i just had this idea that because i've grown up, i'd like to try my hand at taking part of my childhood and making it grow up with me. urghhh. frustrations. probably not gonna complete this lol 

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><p>In a new land, in a new place. It's never easy starting out, but this is the dream that she's always wanted. The chance she'd always been waiting for. The chance to come to America, and experience something completely unalike anything she had ever before. Sakura Hisano jumped at it like a lion closing in for the kill. If she didn't take this chance to study abroad, who knew when the next opportunity would appear.<p>

At the first mention of America, her parents had objected outright. They thought her crazy, why on earth would she want to leave Japan? Her home was a successful country, in all its own right. Everything their daughter needed in life grew directly in their backyard.

Sakura knew this, but of course an American experience didn't sound all that bad. The idea was first implanted in her head when she was five. Movies-especially American ones with cute boys-really had an influence.

Sakura blushed, recalling the beginnings of her desire to see America. It wasn't the only reason why she so desperately wanted to go. There was the differences between her proper, dignified lifestyle and the average American teenager's. And the education; the curriculum was surely different than that of her own in Japan. Sakura had also been informed that the customs in high school were also very foreign. And oh, the uniforms. In American schools, students had no need for them. Sakira could kiss goodbye the sailor uniforms that had drawn the attention of lecherous, creepy old men towards her.

The girl tucked a long strang of jet black hair behind her ears as the spring wind blew. In the absence of pink petals flitting about in the air, she sighed. There were no cherry blossoms here in America. The flower with which she shared her namesake would be missing from her sight for a few years. It would be one thing that Sakura missed from her homeland.

Her aunt-whom agreed to let Sakura stay with her-had attempted to cultivate a few small cherry trees in her backyard, but the blooms on the branches were noticably different. Nonetheless, still beautiful, and very much appreciated.

Sakura inhaled sharply, anxious to start her first day tomorrow. What would Carawood High School, home of the Bears, be like? The anticipation and excitement was chewing at her from the inside out. In such deep thought, she had failed to notice her aunt's entrance to the back porch, swiftly taking a seat beside Sakura with a plate of store bought black cherries.

Asako wasn't all that much older than Sakura herself, at the age of twenty six. Still young and celebratory of life, much more than her own niece anyways.

"You'll be fine," Sakura turned to look at her aunt. Asako was speaking English. Very perfected and well practiced English. Asako had instructed Sakura to speak in English only for the time being, to better her speech and familiarity with the language.

In all honesty, Sakura felt gratitude towards the older woman. Despite having practiced English for a long time, there were still major slip ups in her speech, and a lingering accent which Sakura found embarrassing. "I'm not worried. Just very, very excited," she raised one cherry to her lips, the sweet tanginess of the flesh dancing on her tongue after she bit into the small fruit.

Asako regarded her niece with a sideways glance, spitting out a cherry pit towards the direction of the grass in front of the two. She herself decided to move to America when she was twenty two. At the time, Sakura had only been thirteen, and envious of Asako's ableness to travel freely. When Sakura's mother, Asako's sister, had opposed letting her daughter go abroad, Asako had been the one to support Sakura's decision and desire.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine anyways," Asako smiled assuringly, resting one hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Sakura gave a grin in return, "Thanks Auntie," the girl exhaled, feeling her anxiety melt away with the oncoming of a new lifestyle.


	2. Cherry

The bell rang, and its echoes cried through the hall. Vibrations in the air beat on her eardrums, pricking the soft and tender flesh. It would take a while to get used to it. Back home, the bell was played over the PTA, several high notes instead of a continuous ringing.

"So you've got your schedule, and oh-" Principal Dorothy Martin cut herself off mid sentence, calling out to a student who appeared to be trying to get to class. Of course, if the Principal herself decided to stop you, obviously one would think it was for an important reason.

"This is Theodore Harrow," Principal Martin gestured towards the boy, "he shares most of his classes with you. He'll help you through the day."

Sakura turned towards the other student, who in turn grinned at her with what had to be one of the most brilliantly structured faces she had ever seen. "Now then, if you need anything, you can come to me. Although I'm sure you won't have to, since you'll have Theodore's assistance. Have a good first day, dear!"

Principal Martin had sauntered off in the direction of the main office before Sakura could say anything. Of course, it's not like she would have spoken against Principal Martin's judgement; if she had decided to entrust Sakura's fate to this boy then it would obviously had been for the better. At least Sakura hoped so.

"So... I didn't get your name," Theodore spoke as soon as Principal Martin had left, without breaking a beat. Sakura was thankful, it seemed he knew how to keep conversations flowing without a trace of awkwardness.

She looked up at the boy, who was indeed taller. Intimidation flushed her cheeks, but the color was more from how good-looking she found this boy to be. "Sakura," her voice came out low and uneven, her tongue nearly tripping on its own self.

Theodore smiled again, "Pretty name. You must be the exchange student from Japan. I may not know a lot about the language, but I do know enough to say with confidence 'Sakura' is the Japanese word for cherry blossom."

Sakura nodded. Common knowledge, but even so, impressive. "Thank you," her eyes cast downward, not sure what to say next, "I'm not sure where to go for this class," Sakura awkwardly pointed at her schedule, inwardly beating herself for how clipped she was making herself seem.

Another blush crept up her neck, threatening to bloom across her face as Theodore leaned closer to examine.

"Oh, we have that class together. Let's start walking, we only have like three minutes left of passing time before the tardy bell rings. We can talk on the way too," Theodore smiled again, already a few steps ahead of herself. Sakura decided she liked his face. And he had proven to be quite kind as well.

"Umm, Theodore-"

"You can call me Teddy," Sakura was surprised how quickly he had interjected, as if it was a consecutive practice.

"Ok," Sakura began evenly, "Teddy, is Principal Martin always so informal?"

"Martin? Informal?" Teddy turned in Sakura's direction, and she gave a little nod to confirm what she was asking.

Dorothy Martin was an elderly, sincere and kind woman, from what Sakura observed from a few moments ago. She was a different kind of principal; certainly distinguishable from the one Sakura had at her old high school back at Japan.

Teddy pursed his lip in thought, and Sakura looked over. His hair was a lovely shade of brown. Like the color of tea, and she especially liked when the it caught the light at a certain degree. It made his hair shine rusty red, but only sometimes. Teddy's eyes were framed with impossibly long and thick eyelashes that shamed her short lengthed ones. Sakura turned away, embarassed she'd been caught staring when Teddy caught her gaze.

"Well, it's not necessarily informality she's showing. It's just the slightest bit formal, but maybe you're just not used to it? And it's not like we're not showing her any disrespect either, just because Principal Martin's incredibly friendly towards us. She's like a grandma to the students here, and she treats us like we're her grandchildren."

"She sounds welcoming," Sakura familiarized herself with the caring grandma image of the principal as they turned a corner.

"She's not the only one," Teddy stepped in front of her as they neared a classroom door, and offered another dazzling smile, "Tell you what, I'll come find you when it's lunch time, and I'll introduce you to my friends," his hands were shoved into the front pockets of his jeans, and he leaned forward so his eye level was equal with Sakura's.

"O-okay," she could feel the heat on her face, and she knew she was blushing. Boys back in Japan were certainly not daring, at least to this extent.

Teddy beamed, "Alright then, that's that," the brunette stepped back and pointed at the classroom entrance, "This is our first period, here," Teddy explained when he saw Sakura's confused expression.

Her eyes widened, "I knew that," Sakura bit her lip when Teddy gave a small chuckle before he set a foot through the door.

"And by the way," he turned around, pausing before the rest of himself entered through the door, "I hope you don't mind, but I think I'll just call you Cherry."

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><p>aaaand there we have the second chapter. pretty boring for a start, but eh.<br>my introductions are never good haha. read and review please. i'd love to know.  
>oh btw, i've introduced two care bears already to the story line! can you guess them?<br>one is most definitely grams bear, and the other is tenderheart bear :D


	3. Ten

The cafeteria was at the lowest level of the school, same one the boiler room could be found on. Despite being so secluded, the large room was filled with natural light and a cool breeze. The school was built atop a hill, and as a result the front rested on the knoll, and the rear spilled out the back and onto the slope. Hence the cafeteria's given location.

Sakura's school back in Japan had a cafeteria, although not as strangely located as the one here. Often time, she ate in her classroom. Like at home, in America students weren't required to only eat lunch in the cafeteria. She had seen kids spread all over the campus, sitting in hallways by their lockers. However, Teddy had wanted her to meet some friends of his, and she didn't want to turn down the offer.

"Don't eat that," Sakura, startled, pulled away from her thoughts, and turned her attention to the source of this new voice. She found that it belonged to a pair of pretty, glossed lips turned up in a sweet smile.

"Oh, okay," Sakura managed to spit out before she closed her mouth stupidly.

The girl let out an apologetic laugh, which to Sakura, sounded incredibly warm and comforting. "I'm sorry if I startled you, I just wanted to see what it was before you ate it." The girl placed her folded arms on the table and leaned forward, surveying the decorated lunch the foreign exchange student was picking from.

"Oh, it's just omelette," Sakura put it back in its place in her lunch and set her chopsticks aside. An uncomfortable and self conscious wave swept over her as she realized the girl was watching her eat.

"Hmm," the girl inspected it more closely, scrutinizing every detail of her lunch. "It looks cute, the way your lunch is arranged. Maybe you could make some for me one day, share it?" The girl smiled more, before opening her mouth again. "My name is Sunday, by the way. Sunday Muse."

Sakura smiled, "My name is Sakura. It's nice to meet you."

"So, how do you like it here so far?" Sunday placed a bag on the table and opened its contents to reveal her lunch.

It certainly wasn't a bento, which Sakura's aunt had made for her, despite her protests. Instead, Sunday had a container of salad, and other colorful food sorts among other things.

"Oh, you know I'm the exchange student?" Sakura, a little perplexed, put her fingers to her lips, pondering if she had done something wrong to garner attention to herself. In the movies she watched, the new girl was always confronted by a dangerous force on the first day. Usually in the form of a pretty girl. "Have I done something wrong?"

Sunday seemed confused, "no, not at all. It's just that I haven't seen your face around before, so I knew you were the newest student here. It's been a few days since school started, so we all know who the other foreign exchange students are. You're the last one to arrive."

A few moments of silence passed between the two, before Sakura lightly tapped her first into her other palm in realization. "Ah! I see. Oh, I was scared for a little bit there," Sakura gave a relieved smile.

Sunday let out another laugh, which seemed to ease the awkwardness and tension out of the conversation. Sakura took the opportunity to notice Sunday's hair fell around her shoulders in a shower of strawberry blonde. Her eyes were amber colored and always attentive.

"Why's that?" Sunday's head tilted in curiosity, and Sakura felt her throat catch. She couldn't very well explain to someone she just met that she thought they were evil. Especially when such a sweet and pretty girl had bothered to talk to her in the first place.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something-hopefully words to smooth over her less than kind assumption-but she was interrupted before she could even begin.

"Hey, Sunday," they both turned at the sound of Theodore's voice, who was making his way to the table with a tray full of food.

"Hey Teddy!" Sunday called back, seeming to have forgotten the earlier conversation.

"Looks like you two have already been acquainted. Sakura, this is Sunday. She's one of my friends that I wanted to introduce you to."

"Ah, where are your other friends?" Sakura asked, before flushing red in embarrassment, "I-I mean, not that Sunday isn't good enough-" Sakura stopped herself before she could say anything more.

Sunday only smiled more, waving her hand as if she could brush aside the matter, "it's okay! No harm done. I wouldn't have even noticed it. Only because you said something about it that I did."

"I think I'm a little too excited, maybe a little nervous," Sakura let out a cross between a laugh and a sigh.

"It's only your first day, Cherry, you'll get it down," Theodore took a bite of the pizza he had gotten from the lunch line.

"Cherry?" Sunday raised an eyebrow at Theodore, inquiring about the nickname.

"Yeah," Theodore turned to Sakura, examined her face before smiling at her, "Cherry."

"It's only been, what, two hours and you have a nickname for Sakura?" Sunday drew her fork away from her mouth and waved it at Theodore, her voice taking on a teasing tone.

"It'll help make her feel more closer to us, don't you think Sunday?" He bit into his pizza again, lazily wiping his mouth with a napkin and discarding it on his tray.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Sunday's cheeks seemed to flush, and she rolled her eyes and smiled, attention drawn back to her food.

"Oi, what do we have 'ere?" A new voice drifted towards the table, and Sakura heard Theodore laugh.

"Daaaaaan," Theodore's face was lit up by his grin as he waved at the newcomer. "This is Sakura, the last foreign exchange student."

"Or, Cherry, which is Teddy's little nickname for her," Sunday cut in, not missing the opportunity to swipe at Theodore's silliness. Sakura laughed along with Sunday, finding it hard not to join in with her contagious giggles.

"I wish you would have waited for me, Dan. I was this close to spilling my nachos on my shirt, that would have been really embarrassing," another person sat herself at the table next to Dan, slight irritation in her voice.

Sakura surveyed the two. Dan's hair was a dark coppery red, paired off with green eyes almost the color of grass. He was shorter than Teddy from what she could tell, and seemed to dwarf the girl he sat next to. Her hair was a long, thick black mass of shiny strands that framed her face, which seemed to compliment her sun kissed skin and sea glass colored eyes.

"Yasmine! This is Sakura. Sakura, Yasmine." Sunday gestured back and forward between the two, her heart beat accelerating as she felt Yasmine's eyes on her.

"Wow, you're so pale and thin. I wish I was pale and thin," Yasmine seemed to scan Sakura, eyes studying and flickering here and there. In contrast to Sakura's more smaller frame, Yasmine was more voluptuous. Sakura felt her confidence slowly slip away to the woeful pit in her mind, where it usually stays and never comes back.

"Now, now, Yasmine, you shouldn't be wishin' for things all the time," Dan's voice was accented, Sakura noted. "I think you should be more wary and appreciative of what you've got."

"Oh, I am, I am," Yasmine smiled and leaned onto Dan, her arms wrapped around one of his, before she kissed his cheek and went back to her lunch. "Although," she began, her attention once more on Sakura, "I really want to go shopping. Think you're up for it after school?"

Sakura's cheeks flushed, and she felt her heart speed up again. "I would love to! But it's my first day of school, and I think my aunt would want me to go home."

Yasmine seemed to understand, and nodded her head after swallowing. "Hey, I understand. It doesn't have to be today. On the weekend then? Sunday, how about you?"

"Yeah, I'll ask the others if they wanna go," Sunday said.

"Not invitin' the gents, are you?" Dan put his fork down and pulled Yasmine closer to him, burrowing his face in the crook of her neck even as she squirmed and protested. "Lookin' to do some flirtin' while I'm not around?"

Yasmine flailed to no avail in Dan's arms, laughing loudly. "Look Mr. Boyfriend, can't a girl just buy some clothes with her friends?"

"Dan, control yourself why don't you?" Another boy sat down next to Sunday, with near white blonde hair bleached by the sun, and skin tanned from being outside too much.

"Emm, no." Dan stuck his tongue out at the other. "When you get your bloomin' emotions under control, then you can tell me what to do," Dan wiggled his eyebrows, a knowing grin plastered onto his face.

"Julian," Theodore threw a napkin at him, "this is Sakura."

"H-hello!" Sakura greeted him, suddenly nervous around so many new people.

Julian grinned and raised a hand in greeting, and she felt temporarily blinded by the amount of which he resembled sunlight. Sakura once read a manga about a girl who despised bishounen, and found them too blinding to look at. If there was ever a time she knew how the girl felt, this moment would be it.

Sunday perked up, waving at two girls from across the cafeteria. "Eva, Esmeralda!"

"Where's Alex and Phil?" Dan scanned the cafeteria for two other boys Sakura hadn't had the chance to meet.

"I think those two were at a party. A back to school party? You know how they are." Julian shrugged, dismissing the matter.

"Hey!" Sunday greeted the two girls she had flagged down earlier. "This is Sakura. Sakura, this is Eva," the girl with bobbed, peach colored hair waved. "And this is Esmeralda."

Esmeralda's eyes were dark blue, almost purple in hue. It was hard to tell, the way they seemed to shift back and forth between colors. She had dark brown curls, the kind that turned frizzy if you weren't careful with them.

"Bonjour~" Esmeralda brought up a hand and wiggled her fingers at Sakura, who in turn, nodded her head in recognition.

"Ah, so, Yasmine wanted to go shopping with Sakura over the weekend. Are you two up for it?" Sunday clasped her hands together, waiting for an answer.

"Sounds like a good way to welcome Sakura," Eva gave a toothy smile and popped a spoonful of pudding into her mouth.

"I'll remind you that it won't just be you girls either," Teddy chimed in, "we're also coming along."

Sakura watched Sunday's reaction, who did nothing but occasionally glance admiringly over at Theodore. Sakura became curious over the matter, and made a mental note to ask her about it later.

"Wait, where's Grant?" Julian whipped his head around, trying to locate the last member of this extremely large group.

"He's probably trying to finish the assignment for the engineering, knowing him." Teddy noted, "don't worry, don't worry I'll make sure to drag his butt along on Saturday. Or maybe you'll meet him before then somewhere around school, Cherry."

"CHERRY?" Julian repeated, his eyes widening in amusement and his lips unable to contain the smile twitching along the corners of his lips. "Waaaait a minute, you've got a nickname for her already?"

"That's what I said," Sunday rolled her eyes at Theodore, picking at the remains of her salad.

"Wow, okay," Theodore began, "it's to make her feel more like one of us."

"So does that mean we get to call her that too?" Julian jabbed a finger at Teddy's direction, and everyone laughed at the silence from Teddy that ensued.

Sakura breathed in, "this is a pretty big group of friends, Teddy," she looked around at the multitude of new faces.

"There's ten of us, so I hope you're not too overwhelmed" Teddy swiped at his nose, smiling at her.

"No, no. I think I'll really like it here."

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><p>au weai. it's almost been a year. i was gonna give up on this fanfiction, but i became curious, and i peeked at it. i had one review. overcome with terror, i ignored it. but it's okay, because it was a kind review.<br>then i felt like i had so many hopes for this fanfic that i needed to continue. thanks to the words of one kind anon, and my sister(fun fact: when i was little, i wrote a care bear story and she called it stupid), i have returnnned.  
>i should apologize for being gone, and even more so that the first three chapters are so dreary. fear not! the fourth one will definitely be a little more interesting! at least i hope!<br>so can you guess which care bear is which? try to guess before looking below.  
>theodore - tenderheart bear<br>sunday - cheer bear  
>dan - good luck bear<br>yasmine - wish bear  
>julian - funshine bear<br>eva - friend bear  
>esmeralda - love-a-lot bear<p> 


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